Albedo
by Rastan
Summary: On her quest to find Ash and proclaim her love for him, Latias is thrown into a struggle of Team Rocket attempting to conquer Unova and resolves to end them.
1. Lost and Found

**A/N:** Hello to all you readers! This story takes place after its prologue, Nigredo, so if you haven't read that, it would be a good idea to do so now, so you are aware of what's happened so far.

Well then, after much work on this fanfiction, I feel that it is ready to be read. I hope that this will suitably entertain for times to come.

And thanks to all of you who reviewed and/or favored my previous fanfiction.

I believe I've said what was to be said in Nigredo already, so without further blathering, enjoy.

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**Lost and Found**

The sun shone harsh on her down, and she wiped her paw across her hot forehead, breathing heavily.

Latias had flown non-stop across the ocean to reach Kanto from Altomare, and was exhausted from the lack of rest or food. Even with her speed making the flight go from weeks to a few days, the effects had taken their toll on her when she finally had reached Kanto and slowed down, her adrenaline nearly depleted and her thoughts a disorganized mess looking for food.

She had hoped someone in Pallet Town would know where Ash was; she guessed that it was not far from where she was, but she doubted she would make it if she didn't get some food inside her.

Though the task wasn't a challenge, considering that she was in a forest, and a smell of sweet, ripe berries hung in the air like it was mocking her sense of smell to find them.

She sniffed the air and trailed the scent to be very nearby and floated around until she spotted her meal, a bush full of uneaten oran berries.

Speeding over to the bush in response to her growling stomach, Latias promptly sat as best as she could next to the bush, and let out a yawn. She rubbed the back of her paw against her eyes, willing herself to fight off her want of sleep for her need to feed.

She plucked off the berries and ate them in quick succession, and started to feel her hunger lessen considerably. As she soon finished off the bush's berries, she still felt hungry, but no longer starving.

Taking a moment to let her stomach digest, she examined the scenery around her. It was her first time in a forest. Latias could feel the itchy grass beneath her, heard the cries of various pokémon scampering around in the forest as well, and could see that the forest had much more greenery than the garden she called home. The summer heat made everything hot and dry; she was no better, her down of feathers suited to cool and windy atmosphere Altomare and becoming a nuisance in the torrid atmosphere that made even the shade of trees inadequate to reduce the heat.

_This forest is so wonderful...Latios, if only you could see this place. I never knew how cool the world would be. It's incredible._

Latias saw pidgeys fly above her, and even saw a spearow landed on nearby branch, staring intently at her.

_Ash is a traveling trainer, so he gets to see this kind of thing every day. And now I can too. And when I find him, we'll see this world togeth-_

A loud squawk brought Latias out of her thoughts as the spearow that had been gazing at her landed in front of her, looking up at her with a glare.

Latias tilted her head at an angle. "Oh! Uh, hello there."

The spearow squawked, shaking its wings rapidly. "_Hello?! _Do you know what you just did?!"

Latias shook her head.

"_No?!_" The spearow started pacing around in front of her, continuing to shake its wings fiercely. "Ha! The _nerve_ of this weirdo! Stealing from a spearow as handsome as me and playing dumb!"

Latias frowned at being called a weirdo, although when the spearow mentioned stealing, her eyes drifted over to the barren berry bush.

"Oooo...Was that bush I ate oran berries from yours?"

"_Yes. _One I fought to earn."

A feeling of embarrassment and shame welled up in her, her head downcast. "I-I didn't know, spearow. I was just so hungry I...I just... I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You eat my whole bush and all I get is _sorry_?!" The bird was raking out dirt with its talons, its feathers bristled and eyes glaring harder than earlier.

"Look, there are plenty of other bushes and trees here, I'm sure there's a lot of berries you could find, I could even hel-"

Just then the spearow rose and pecked her forehead multiple times, eliciting a cry of shock from the dragon as she floated up herself and moved her head around to no avail as her assailant started using talons to painfully rake across her neck.

Latias decided she had enough of the bird and used a Dragon Claw in self defense to smack the pestering bird away from her and consequentially hit a tree rather hard.

The spearow got back up on its talons with a large bump on its head and its left eye twitching as tears appeared in the corners of its eyes.

Realizing she hit harder than she expected or wanted to, Latias stood agape for a moment, wondering what the spearow would do.

The spearow screeched in an deafening tone, and Latias covered her sensitive ears as she flew away, desperate to get away from that painful noise.

She doubted that the spearow was fast enough to catch up to her with its puny wings, but she took a curious look back to see if it did indeed follow her. Latias gasped at the sight behind her.

Spearows were coming from all around, converging into a flock chasing her.

Even though she could easily dispatch a few spearow with ease, she didn't want to find out if she could take on an entire spearow flock attacking her all at once.

Her speed allowed her to keep enough distance that their attacks would miss, but that speed worked against her in the forest. It was too littered with obstacles that constantly forced her to slow down, whether in fear of crashing into a tree or having her large wings hit something. Even her invisibility would prove useless thanks to the multiple breaks of sunlight through the treetops, which would allow her to be partially seen thanks to the light changing too suddenly for her feathers to reflect.

Latias felt guilty to do it, but when her choices were to launch an attack or eventually get caught and beaten senseless, she chose to hurl a Mist Ball at her pursuers.

She gathered the air for the attack, painfully aware how much she had slowed down and allowed herself to be in striking distance. She moved up quickly, avoiding multiple pecks to her rear and flippers* as three spearow crashed into a bush.

Having formed the ball, she stopped and corrected her position as she hurled the ball into the thickest concentration of the spearow flock.

The ball collided into spearows, knocking out the ones it hit and sending them flying in all directions. She didn't know how many it struck, but she doubted it hit the entire flock, and she wasn't too eager to stay and find out how many were left.

She got her unwanted answer as she felt the stinging pain of four sets of claws raking against her back all at once, screaming as their Fury Swipes easily hit her dead on mark for twenty consecutive times.

"Leave me alone!" She shrilled, throwing up her wings to make herself appear larger, and intimidated the spearow to back away as she cloaked herself invisible out of instinct.

Latias didn't bother caring how well she actually could manage to stay cloaked, preferring to find a safe place to lick her wounds and hide until the threat was gone. She flew close to the ground against a tree trunk, waiting as the spearow crowd coalesced and flew off in a direction away from her, squawking about how she "must have bolted so fast they couldn't see" and other things, mostly involving about how they'd shove their claws and beaks in places she hoped they'd never find.

Eventually she could no longer hear their voices and relaxed her body. "Wow...Ryuld was right, it is dangerous out here. I shouldn't stay here though, I need to find Pallet Town soon..."

After a quick sniff of the air to make sure no spearows had stayed in case they thought she was hiding, she charged out of there, wanting to leave the forest altogether.

After going through much forest and repeatedly stopping to catch her breath (Latias swore that she would never continuously fly for days and then get into a fight after only having a modest meal to energize her ever again), she had finally left the forest and arrived in an open space field.

She immediately took notice of the human building only a few dozen feet away from her, with yellow walls and a wine red roof, connected to what she believed humans called a windmill.

When she looked off to the side and behind the structure, she was shocked to see a huge variety of other pokémon in the far side of the field, and noticing that some seemed to be looking her way, she moved behind the building and saw a sight that elated her enough to let out a coo of utter delight.

She saw a town that was only a quick flight away, and was small enough to fit what she had heard Ash say during tournament matches was his "peaceful, small hometown near professor Oak's laboratory."

Her body felt lethargic after feeling a burst of invigoration that she succeeded in making the journey to Pallet. She felt her invisibility go away, her mind already too exhausted to continue the effort, and felt herself beginning to drift into a state of being half awake and nearly sleeping.

Latias then realized that a human was sneaking up behind her, likely having exited the building and saw her appear out of nowhere. She would've escaped, but her tiredness won out though, as her frame could no longer be sustained aloft as her cognitive state fell and concentration came apart as sleep claimed her, her levitation failing as she hit the grass with a heavy thud and surrendered to unconsciousness.

o0o

Latias awoke slowly, opening her eyes to see everything a fuzzy blur of colors and warped voices speak until she was cognizant and everything focused.

She took note that she was inside a building, and laying on a sofa. She looked around to see that the room had a dreary yellow wallpaper and gray tiled floor, with not much in it other than the sofa she lay on, a table near her and a counter next to a closed wooden door. There didn't appear to be a window for her to leave through, although even if there was, she wouldn't fit through it with her wing size.

Latias recalled what she remembered last happened to her. _Okay, I got to see Ash's hometown and then I __fainted because I was so tired...But I heard a human come from behind._

Latias floated up to notice that she no longer felt exhausted and hadn't been physically restrained at all. _I know I didn't sleep-fly here and that a human must've brought me in, but why? I'm supposed to be a legendary, right? So why aren't I in a pokéball? _

Hearing some muffled human voices beyond the door speak, she cruised over and put her ear to the door to listen in the conversation.

"-You think it is, professor Oak?"

"From what the pokédex tells us, there appears to be no information on that pokémon you brought in, Tracey. I've never seen anything like it."

"It looked so exhausted when I brought it in, I hope it'll feel better when it wakes up."

"Yes, I hope so too. Those vitamins I gave it should give it some strength. But really... I just hope that it's friendly. The last time you brought in that injured pidgeotto, it darn near destroyed half my beakers! And it _ate _my sandwich!"

"But professor, you keep leaving your sandwiches out for the pokémon to just take!"

Latias moved back away from hearing the humans talk, and thought about what she heard. _I don't know too much about this professor Oak or whoever this Tracey guy is, but they do seem nice. I guess I must be in Oak's laboratory, and they made me feel better. I...I guess I should say hello._

Latias swung side to side while floating, contemplating how she would greet herself with them. It certainly wasn't anywhere near the first time she met a human she didn't know, but she usually was in her human disguise during those times.

If she went out there looking human, she thought that she could be seen as an intruder...

_I guess I'll go as is. I just hope all those telepathy lessons pay off...Better do it with a smile too._

Latias crooned as loud as she could, the sound of hustling footsteps being the only other thing she heard over her voice. She stopped as the door opened to reveal to her two humans, one in a white lab coat and another wearing a green shirt with a pink headband.

The one she assumed was professor Oak spoke, "Oh, you're awake! Are you feeling all right?"

Latias felt no trace of harmful intentions in either of them and answered with an empathic coo, and smiled to let them know she was being friendly.

"That's great! People call me professor Oak and this is my assistant, Tracey."

"Hi there! I'm the one who brought you in. You fainted right in front of me, but me and the professor fixed you right up!

She felt good that her first meeting with people now that she was outside her home was going so well, and sensing their welcoming feelings, she flew right up to them. She let out a series of trills and coos as she inspected both of them, although they moved their heads back when she tried to get a face to face look at them.

Oak smiled and moved his hand through his hair, chuckling. "I guess I can take that as a thank you, then?"

Her inspection of them supported that they were quite relaxed at the moment, no doubt because of her amiable behavior, but she still had uncertainties that they would overreact, or send her off to villainous people because she could use telepathy. Of course that was something to worry about, but nothing about them gave anything of a sinister aura, she felt like she could trust them.

"_Yes, thanks for helping me!"_

Latias stifled a laugh as the professor gasped as he heard her use telepathy and Tracey looked around the room in surprise.

Professor Oak's eyes widened as he looked at her. "Did- did you just use telepathy?!"

Latias nodded.

Tracey awed in response. "Wow! A pokémon using telepathy! I haven't seen a pokémon do that since I saw a lugia!"

Latias felt a bit of pride well up that she had done something that even a professor was astonished by.

Professor Oak sputtered, "I-i-incredible! The scarcity of telepathic pokémon is rare enough, but to think one would be laid down at my doorstop! How incredible!"

"_You aren't going to do bad things to me because I'm a rare pokémon, are you? I don't like fighting, but if you try to capture me..." _Latias brought herself into a battle position, sticking her multiple feathers up to show she was an agitated animal not to be trifled with.

Oak waved his hands, frantically stating, "Calm down, calm down! I assure you that Tracey and I have no intentions of harming you!"

Latias glared at them for a moment and then settled herself down out of her pose that was more for intimidation than any preparation to attack.

"_Well...Okay. I've been tired and hungry for days now, so I'm a little on edge."_

"Then why don't we discuss over lunch? We have many differents types of pokemon food, I'm sure we have something you'd like." Oak pointed to an adjacent room outside the lounge they were in.

Latias cooed and rubbed against Oak's face. _"I'd love that! Thank you!"_

"Ah ha ha! Well, aren't you certainly a cute pokemon! Come along, the kitchen is this way."

The kitchen was very modest in size, but Latias cared little about whether the kitchen was just a corner of a room or the size a fancy restaurant; what interested her was the plate of sandwiches left out on the table, the aroma of their leafy and fruit-filled contents made Latias' mouth water, and without thinking, shemoved in and caught two sandwiches, one on each paw, and eagerly chowed them down, one after the other.

Tracey groaned. "Aw man, I spent all morning cooking up the greens just like the professor likes for those..."

Latias spun around, _"I'm really sorry, but I just haven't been able to eat anything but some berries for days...If it helps, those sandwiches were amazing!"_

Rubbing the back of his head, Latias could see Tracey blush. "Well, if you were _that_ hungry, I can let it slide."

As Oak sat down in his chair, he cleared his voice. "Now, can you tell us why you needed to come to Pallet Town?"

"_I came here because I heard this was a human named Ash Ketchum's hometown. Do you know him?"_

Oak tilted his head and gave Latias a investigatory look. "Ash? Of course I know him, he got his first pokemon from me, not to mention being my grandson's best friend. Why?"

"_W-why? I..."_

Latias stammered and shook slightly, hesitant to tell that she had come to profess her love to Ash. This was a lead to finding him, and she couldn't afford to mess up.

Tracey spoke up as well. "For that matter, who are you?"

To this she answered quickly. "_I'm Latias! I know you must have a lot of questions for me, but I'm an old friend of Ash and I...I just want to see him again...Can you please tell me where he is? Please?"_ Latias put on fake teary eyes, complete with a whimpering mouth for full guilt effect.

Oak sighed and avoided looking directly at Latias' puppy eye trick. "All right, all right! You should've just said that you were Ash's friend. Last time he called me, he was still in Unova. He didn't tell me where he was going though. If you really want to find him, I'd check the gyms."

Latias crooned, and rubbed her head against Oak's head. _"Oh! Thank you, thank you Mr. Oak, sir!"_

"Ah heh he he, you're quite welcome." Oak chuckled.

Tracey poked Latias to get her attention, "Hey, if you're looking for Ash, why don't you ask his pokemon? They're right outside, and if you promise not to start any trouble, I'll introduce you to them."

"_I won't make any! Come on, come on, show me!"_ Latias bit into Tracey's shirt and started pulling him out of the kitchen.

"Hey, hey, I said I would...!" Tracey shook his head. "Alright, I'll see you in a bit professor!"

_Ash's pokemon could tell me more about Ash. Maybe I can even ask them how he's been and what kind of trainer he is._ Latias thought. _I can't wait__!_

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**A/N:** I do hope this first chapter was enough to keep you engaged with the story enough to want to keep reading, and if not, I apologize for having wasted your time.

I realize that making moves into proper nouns is not grammatically correct, but in order to dispel any confusion of whether in a scenario of say, "pikachu bites a berry" or "pikachu used Bite," I will be doing that. If it genuinely bothers you to read that format choice, I'm afraid you'll have to tough it out.

I truly would like to better my writing abilities, so a review stating anything you found wrong or inconsistent would be appreciated. Any feedback possible is still appreciated, negative, positive, flame or whatever. Please keep reviews coherent though if possible, illiteracy bothers me.

If you really liked or disliked something in this, I would also like to hear that as well.

*= I think that that the two things beside Latias' tail look like flippers, so unless someone tells me that is inaccurate, I will be calling them that.


	2. Need To Know Basis

**A/N:** Did you know the writers for the anime confirmed that Ash will never win a league, and will remain the protagonist for as long as the anime exists? Yeah...

Also, for some reason every fan seems to think Ash is really awful for leaving his pokémon at Professor Oak's every time he goes to a new region. It's a bit strange to me, because fanfic authors seem to have it ingrained as a prominent thought that Ash habitually just abandons his pokémon without caring how sad they are. Except -and here's the thing; when he left Sceptile, Donphan, Swellow, Corphish, and Aipom at Professor Oak's after Battle Frontier, the first four can be seen happily waving him goodbye. In fact, Aipom was the only one who was actually heartbroken about being separated, and she tagged along with Ash anyway to Sinnoh, to which he was okay with. (She was traded away to Dawn later, but that was Aipom's decision, not Ash's)

But enough of that. Read on at your leisure.

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**Need To Know Basis**

Professor Oak drank his coffee and typed in quick succession on his computer, resolute in attempting to find info on the pokémon Tracey had brought in.

As a pokémon that could use telepathy, Latias caught his attention and triggered his need to know more about such an unusual pokémon. The name "Latias" sounded familiar, and as he thought about it, he recalled having once had a conversation about the species with Birch after the brown-haired man returned from a vacation to an island between Johto and Hoenn. He came up with a search result about Altomare, and read up on it.

Oak rubbed his fingers through his hair. "I wonder. Could she be that island's guardian? ...Oh? What's this?"

Oak carefully studied the text on the screen. "I see... So there have been migratory latias and latios sightings. Fascinating! According to this, they can even reflect the light to appear invisible. And to think, I have one visiting my lab as I read this! A shame she didn't want to explain anything, but I shouldn't try to pry into her business. I don't want to make her angry."

As Oak continued searching, his eyes fell on the sightings listed.

_That's interesting. According to this, there have been sightings of them for thousands of years, but the number seems to have drastically decreased over the last centuries. And it seems to have decreased even more so in the last ten years. Odd... Where could so many rare pokémon have gone? Perhaps in hiding from trainers and poachers, but..._

Oak crossed his arms. "They have the defenses to hide away from danger, so why would they disappear now? Hmm..."

o0o

The Eon pokémon let out a gasp as she looked at the pasture before her with Tracey. Pokémon as far as she could see on the pastures, and of all different sizes, shapes and types.

Tracey chuckled. "Impressive, isn't it? A lot of trainers leave their pokémon with Professor Oak, usually when they get more than six pokémon."

"_I've never even heard of many of these pokémon...This is amazing! Do you know where Ash's pokémon are?"_

Tracey scanned the pasture, pointing his finger occasionally at certain pokémon. "Ash keeps a lot of pokémon here. They tend to hang out in their usual spots. I see a few here, but you can find the rest pretty quickly if you want."

"_Well...Do you see someone who would talk to me?"_

"Okay, do ya see that torterra -the one with a tree on it- with a swellow on his back next to a bulbasaur and snorlax? I'm sure one of them would be willing to talk to you. " Finger pointing to each pokémon including what Latias saw was an enormous pokémon that had a tree growing out of its shell. She couldn't help but feel isolated, not having even known that a pokémon could grow its own greenery to that size.

"_Thanks Tracey!"_

"No problem, Latias! I'm going to go see if the Professor needs me to make him something else to eat, so if you need anything, just come in." After that, Tracey left.

Latias flew near them, and stopped right in front of the snorlax, which was asleep and loudly snoring. The torterra and other pokémon were right in reaching distance, just behind the large slumbering pokémon. And yet, she felt apprehensive to speak. She felt like she lucked out with the snorlax, but what would she say to those other pokémon? She didn't know anything about them other than that they were Ash's. Were they nice, or would they shove her away if she said even the slightest thing wrong? Or worse?

Latias inhaled deeply. _It's just like meeting Ryuld and his kids. I just have to be nice, and if they don't want to talk to me, I can just find Tracey and see if he can find someone else._

Hovering over to the torterra with all the confidence she could muster, she spoke to gain his attention. "Hi! Are you Ash's pokémon?"

The torterra slowly turned in place to face her; the swellow and bulbasaur likewise now having their sights set onto her, although to her relief their expressions were confused instead of annoyed for interrupting their relaxation. The torterra was just staring at her, the swellow merely tilted its head at her as it rested on the tree on the torterra's back, and the bulbasaur walked up to her, its face contorted into a half-frown.

"Yeah, we are. Why? I haven't seen you here before."

"I'm looking for Ash, and Tracey said you might tell me about him."

The bulbasaur scoffed. "Why? I don't even know you. How do I know you're not lying?"

"Well..." The swellow spoke aloud. "If she was lying, how would she know who Tracey is?" Latias blinked as the swellow rubbed its wing against its face. "Plus...she's pretty cute, right guys?"

The torterra muttered something about "not into fliers" while the bulbasaur shrugged.

"My name's Latias! And you're...Bulbasaur, Swellow, and Torterra...right?"

Bulbasaur sighed. "All right, so you know our names. But how did you get Tracey to tell you? Are you psychic or something?"

"Yup!"

Bulbasaur shook his head. "I still don't know..."

Torterra spoke up, "Oh Bulbasaur, lighten up. Look at her and tell me you think she's going to do any harm."

After a quick dirty look at Torterra, Bulbasur left. As Bulbasaur walked off snorting to himself, Swellow flew down and approached her, standing next to her and squinting up at her face.

"Seriously though, who are you? I've flown around here dozens of times, and I know a familiar face when I see them. And why are you looking for Ash anyway?"

"Well, this is my first time here, so I don't think you'd know me. Ash is my friend, and I want to see him again. But it's been so long, I don't know if what he's like anymore... If he's still the same Ash or not. I want to know more about him, and play with him again..."

"Okay...when did you see Ash last, anyway?"

"About five years ago. I gave him a drawing my best friend made of him and his pikachu."

"Well, he still travels with Pikachu. Pikachu's his starter actually."

Latias recalled how it was her who had to protect Pikachu when her brother almost attacked them. Her brother had never been one to ask questions first...

"What is Ash like?"

The bird cocked his head left and right, "Well, he's nice and takes the time for us. But he's also kinda dense, stubborn, naive, brash, arrogant-"

A huff came out of Torterra. "Swellow."

"-uh, yeah. But don't get me wrong, he really cares about his friends and helps out others a lot. I mean that, we've helped out _dozens_ of people when I still traveled with him."

Although she had known the Ash who had helped her out was definitely a nice person, it reassured her to hear that he was still a good person at heart.

Torterra lumbered over to her and asked, "You said you want to know more about Ash, right? Let me show you where Bayleef is. If you were to ask anyone other than Pikachu to talk all about Ash, she'd be the one. She'll go on and _on_ about Ash if that's what you want to know." At his suggestion Latias looked in the direction his head pointed to, apparently right in the middle of the field was a bunch of Ash's pokémon toward which Torterra focused on the pale yellow-ish dinosaur with leaves on its neck talking to what appeared to be an orange otter with an inflated neck on top of a hill.

"Well, she has pretty red eyes."

Torterra nodded. "She really does. A lot of the guys here like her, but she always brushes them off if they try to ask her out."

"Thanks you two!" Latias crooned, watching them give her simultaneous nods as she turned around and flew over to the top of the hill.

The otter-like pokémon noticed her ascent and pointed at her, saying something to Bayleef Latias couldn't overhear. Bayleef in turn watched her rise up to them, eying Latias as she sheepishly extended a paw to Bayleef. "Hi...I'm Latias."

Bayleef raised an eyebrow, stretching out one of her vines. "I'm Bayleef. You were talking to Torterra and Swellow just now, weren't you?"

Latias blinked in surprise. "How did you..."

The otter walked up and lightly jabbed Latias. "Bulbasaur told us."

"Oh, he told you mister, uh..."

"Name's Buizel." Buizel stood up straight and smacked his paw against his chest. Latias nodded, holding in a coo at how cute Buizel looked as he did so.

"Torterra said I could ask you about Ash, Bayleef, so I hope that's okay."

Bayleef swished her head-leaf back and forth lazily, but Latias could see a slight cautionary look in Bayleef's eyes, less so than Bulbasaur, but still investigating her. Apparently she must have appeared innocent to Bayleef, as the yellow dinosaur dropped the look soon after.

"Well, if you want to know about Ash, I'm your gal. I pickup everything Ash goes around doing whenever someone gets transferred over here, and they usually have a lot to tell."

Latias practically lit up, exhilaration flaring up in her as she felt the trail to finding Ash growing hotter. She started to wonder what to ask first, sure she could immediately ask for his location, but info about what he was like from those he carried around for much of his time piqued her interest much higher.

"So...how is Ash doing lately?"

"Ash is doing great, I hear he's been winning badges in Unova in half the time he took winning them when we traveled together. Weird to think he's on the other side of the world. He even found two new friends to hang around after Brock and that little skirt- err, Dawn, left. I hear one of them likes cooking even more than Brock, and the other is training to be a Dragon Master and yells at Ash a lot." Bayleef chuckled a bit. "I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same..."

Latias smiled as Bayleef reminisced; happy feelings radiating from her like a cozy warmth on a cool day.

As Bayleef rambled about how Ash had been catching new pokémon, Buizel looked at Latias until finally asking, "Why is it you want to find Ash, anyway? You looking to get caught by him?"

Latias huffed. Was everyone going to keep asking her that? She was beginning to feel like a broken record. "I just want to see him again after five years-"

Buizel brought up a single digit on his paw to shush her and did mid-sentence, albeit a miffed pout from Latias.

"Nu-uh. The real reason. I can tell you're lying, I can see it in your eyes, like you want to say something, but cop out of it."

The dragon couldn't help visibly cringing, but relaxed shortly after. _I didn't want more pokémon judging me for it, but I guess I'll need to say it now if I want more info from Bayleef..._

"I do want to see him. I...like Ash, like more than a friend."

Buizel's expression changed from one of skepticism to one Latias couldn't exactly say, perhaps one of worry or concern.

"...Like _what,_ exactly?" Bayleef asked.

"A crush."

"Oh boy. I'm not getting in the middle of this..." Buizel bolted, leaving Latias confused as to why.

Latias looked back to Bayleef to see her pleasant demeanor shift into a furious one.

Before latias could ask anything, a sharp, stinging pain smacked her across the cheek. She gave out a cry and turned her face back to see a vine whip receding back into an angry looking Bayleef.

"W-what was that for?!" Latias shouted. She didn't get it, Bayleef had been so kind and had no feelings of aggression when she came up, so why now?

Bayleef began to quickly flick her leaf back and forth and dig her front toe into the loose gravel. "A long time ago when I was still in his team, I was head over heels for Ash. And even though he's still out traveling and I've given up on getting him, I – I-" Bayleef shook her head and growled. "I won't give him up without a fight! If you think you're worthy enough to love him, you're gonna have fight me for him! And if you don't, you should forget about seeing him again!"

There was a moment of confusion to Latias, being abruptly asked to battle wasn't something she expected

to occur when she came to ask around about Ash, but she knew she wasn't about to just go home.

_I didn't know Bayleef felt that way about Ash. I don't really want to fight her, but I'm not going to go back home after all the effort I've put in. Sorry Bayleef, but I won't run away._

"I – I accept, Bayleef. I'll fight you."

Bayleef briefly held a look of surprise, but changed back to anger. "Fine. Don't think I'll hold back!"

_Using my invisibility wouldn't be fair, so I'll have to make do._

Barely a moment passed before Bayleef charged at Latias, tossing multiple sharp-edged leaves at her. Latias dodged the leaves, flying around them and behind Bayleef.

Latias narrowed her eyes and charged forward as well, raising her claw as she prepared a Dragon Claw attack, but as she closed in, Bayleef spun around and extended her Vine Whip. Latias didn't have time to react as Bayleef's Vine Whip grabbed a hold of her and threw her, sending her crashing into the dirt at the bottom of the hill.

Latias raised herself back up with her telekinesis, now noticing the still hot summer sun make her body heat up and drain her energy faster with her body-covering down. Little huffs exited her mouth as she checked herself for injuries, but didn't only found a bruise or two. She looked ahead at a smirking Bayleef, swishing around her leaf as if to say, "want some more?"

_Wow, Bayleef's well-trained... I didn't think she could pull me with those vines. I better step it up if I want to win!_

The dragon collected the air around her to form a Mist Ball, and launched it at Bayleef. The dino evaded it and stuck her tongue out at Latias for missing.

The dragon shook her feathers and shrilled, making Bayleef step back a bit and then dashed forward at her opponent charging another Dragon Claw, and at the last moment changed direction before she was hit with another Vine Whip.

Bayleef growled and ran at the retreating Latias, only to see her shift direction again –right at her!

Bayleef tried to use another Vine Whip and received a Dragon Claw to the chest for her effort, flying backwards and bouncing down the hill until she came to a stop at the bottom.

As Latias floated down to see if Bayleef was all right and saw that Bayleef had swirls in her eyes, as well as a few scratches and bruises. Thankfully, Bayleef hadn't sustained a serious injury from a fully-powered Dragon Claw to the chest.

_Whew... I thought I really hurt her._

Although she wanted to wake her up, Latias' thoughts stopped her. She thought of how easy it might have been to accidentally seriously injure or even possibly mortally harm Bayleef, all so Latias could be stubborn instead of reasoning with her like she should have.

"I didn't mean to hurt you like that." She lowered her head and cooed softly.

"No, it's my fault. I was stupid and forced you to do it. I'm fine anyway."

Latias rose her head to see Bayleef attempt to stand, tears in her eyes.

"You won, Latias. I won't get in your way with Ash..."

Latias had a heavy feeling in her chest as she watched Bayleef finally get up and turn to walk away from Latias, perhaps if only to not let her watch her cry. It was too much for Latias and so she used her telekinesis to lift Bayleef and make the yellow dinosaur face her. Bayleef was a bit shaken from being lifted out of nowhere, but gave Latias a solemn, if teary-eyed look.

"What else do you want..? I said I'm not getting in your way... Just leave me be."

The dragon let out a snort and released her telekinetic hold on Bayleef, dropping her.

"Why? We were having fun talking just a moment ago, and now your enemy because I like Ash? I came here to find out about Ash, Bayleef. I went through so much to even get right here. Didn't you?"

Bayleef kept herself down, but responded anyway. "Ash only caught me because I was being a stupid and stubborn chikorita. He saved me from freezing to death, and I had a savior crush on him ever since." She stood up and gazed at Latias longingly.

"Why do you want him, anyway?"

"Ash was a hero to me to, but that was because of two thieves trying to take over the world."

Bayleef raised one of her eyes in interest. "Really? Can't say I haven't heard that one before..."

"Ash helped me out, but my brother didn't make it...Just because two thieves had to be greedy..."

"O-oh..." The dinosaur rubbed her flat paw against the grass. A moment of awkward silence was shared between the two as the calls of Ash's other pokémon playing were heard in the distance.

"...Hey, Latias? I'm sorry for your loss. And...I'm sorry I made you fight me. It's just..." Bayleef eyes wandered as Latias heard her voice drift off. "For the longest time before I was caught, it was just me versus the world and then Ash came along and stole my heart because he cared about helping me so much. Because of that, I got so jealous when anyone even looked like they were trying to make a move on him. It wasn't until I evolved that I started to cool down, and by the time he placed me here, I was much more mellowed out."

Latias had her ears up in interest, listening closely to Bayleef's story. "But what about when Ash put you here? Weren't you sad?" Latias could recall all too easily how lonely she felt without Ash's comforting presence, but unlike Bayleef, he left her soon after they left instead of going on a full fledged journey together.

"Of course. But I wasn't for long. Everyone here knew that coming here means that you would get nostalgic and sad that you aren't with your trainer, but to be honest...life is good here. I have lots of friends here, like Buizel for one. I'm always fed enough, and Oak allows us to do most anything, so long as it isn't really hurting anyone."

Latias gave a simple nod. "It looks so great too. Ash must love you a whole lot if he let you be here in a little paradise like this!"

Bayleef's mouth went slightly agape, gazing at Latias without a word.

Slowly, Bayleef began to speak. "You're right. You're absolutely right, Latias."

A bit confused by her vague response, Latias asked with her head tilted, "Right about what?"

"Ash does really care about me. I have this lingering thought that Ash keeps going on journeys without me or any of his other pokémon that he forgets about us, so I always force my way into being with him when he's around so he'll remember but..."

Bayleef's knees started to buckle and her eyes started to well up with tears. "If- if he didn't care, h-he wouldn't keep saying hi to me like we were never apart..."

Latias was caught by surprise as Bayleef buried her head against her chest, putting her weight against the dragon. "Ha...Ha...It's funny though, you see, Ash helps out random people all the time and even defends us when someone calls us weak, so I don't know why..." The dinosaur moved back and looked back at the dragon.

"No...It's because of Ash's other pokémon. I hear how they were abandoned or mistreated by a trainer, and somehow, I thought that Ash could become like that. But he wouldn't. Ash is a good human." Bayleef sighed. "Maybe wanting to go after him for so long is making me delusional. I think...I think it's time I look for someone else to love."

Latias was shocked, to the least. Here she had found a pokémon that had all the info she'd need on Ash, but at the cost of being another competing suitor. And out of that, a battle commenced and Bayleef spilled her proverbial beans.

_Are Ash's other pokémon as...quirky... as Bayleef?_

"But Bayleef, I thought you really, really wanted to be with Ash."

"I thought so too. But if I really did, I would've been more straightforward when I see him. I think I grew out of loving Ash a long time ago, actually. I guess I deeply wanted to believe I still loved him so that he wouldn't forget me."

"Bayleef..."

"No Latias. I...don't have those feelings for Ash that way anymore." Bayleef inhaled deeply and put on a big smile. "But you do! If you want Ash, I'll be rooting for you."

Latias rubbed her eyes as she felt moisture start to form around the corners. "Oh Bayleef, thanks..."

"I just want you to remember. Ash is a good guy, and he deserves the best. So you better want to go after him with all you have!"

Latias nodded. "I will, Bayleef! Thank you!" She rubbed her head against Bayleef's.

Bayleef grinned. "Enough of that... I still need to tell you some of good times me and Ash have shared...so listen up!"

Latias listened closely as Bayleef told her many, many of the adventures Ash shared with her, as well as quite a few stories that other of Ash's pokémon had with him.

The two spent the rest of the day talking about a mish-mash of the crazier happenings at Oak's lab and of what little Bayleef could tell Latias about what Ash was up to recently. For Latias, it was the funnest day she had for a long time.

She hoped it was the start of even more fun days to come.

o0o

After finishing her talk with Bayleef, Latias went back to the lab to ask if she could stay the night with Bayleef. The lab was alight even in the evening rays of sun, but Latias couldn't spot either Oak or Tracey inside as she stared from out the windows. Although that may have been due to the fact they were quite dusty and nearly made her sneeze being so close.

Latias knocked on the door with her claws in hopes of getting their attention, but heard no one come even when she put herself against the door to listen in.

_Tracey did say I could come in if I needed something. And I do. I wonder if they're busy eating?_

The door opened as she leaned on it, and she entered. Now that she was inside, her sensitive hearing picked up two people talking; Oak and another voice she didn't recognize. Erring on the side of caution, she cloaked herself and went into the next room to see Oak using a videophone.

"...noon tomorrow. Is that all right with you?"

Latias hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but she flew in closer to see on the monitor a brown haired man wearing a...purple cape?

"Thank you Oak. I'll give you the poké for the tickets tomorrow when I get here."

Oak then hung up the phone, the monitor turning off in response.

_That guy dressed so weird. I'm kinda curious..._

She uncloaked herself behind the professor, and asked, "_Hey mister Oak, who were you talking to?"_

He jumped in his chair in surprise, knocking it over. "Ahh!"

Turning around, he sighed. "Oh, it's just you Latias. I'm not used to telepathy, so don't give an old man a heart attack by suddenly talking behind him!"

"_Sorry! I just wanted to see who you were talking to!"_

"I was talking to Eusine. He's coming here tomorrow to pick up his plane ticket to Unova he left with me last time he was here."

Latias' ears perked at hearing Unova be the destination. She already was thinking of trying to tag-along with the man whilst concealed to Unova.

"_Thanks Oak! Can I sleep with Bayleef too?"_

"I don't see why not. I'm sure she'd love the company."

Latias gave Oak a warm goodnight and nuzzle before departing to sleep with Bayleef.

_I better sleep early! I can't miss this chance to get to Unova so quick! I'll see you soon, Ash!_

* * *

.

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**A/N:** Every person tends to learn something about their ability to write when they focus on writing, and what I found for myself is that I can't seem to do battle scenes quite as well as I want, which could very likely hamper some ideas I have for later if that isn't fixed. Would anyone be kind enough to give any advice for writing Pokemon battles? Such help would be very well appreciated and help me move this along faster than the snail's rate it is going in.

You know, it continues to astound and depress me that quite so many fanfiction authors believe that overusing either "OMG SO _EDGY_ AND _DARK_" and "LOL SO RANDUM XD" makes for a good fanfiction. Also, longer does not necessarily mean better, especially when it comes to fanfiction.

Also, a thing I've noticed when seeing the many Mary Sues across the Pokémon section (Being invincible, being a morph of human/pokémon, or having Ash deprived of all canonical traits, etc...) is that they all share something: being extremely observant and figuring out problems easily because the author shares the fact he/she knows what happens later. (IE, ousting Team Plasma as evil in the first meeting despite there being no evidence that they are anything but people with misguided views on Pokemon at that point.) That...isn't a good way to go about writing at all.


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